Gioachino Rossini, L'italiana in Algeri (1813)

I watched this after hearing the news about Ginsburg. There was nothing I could do, obviously, so it seemed like the best course of action would be to watch a Rossini comedy.

So there's Mustafà, the Bey of Algiers. He's tired of his wife Elvira, so he decides to marry her off to his Italian slave Lindoro so he can look elsewhere: he really wants to marry an Italian girl. Fortunately, there's a new Italiana in the city, Isabella, there to look for her missing sweetheart Lindoro. Lindoro does not want to marry Elvira, but he gets a free pass home to Italy if he agrees, so he does. Isabella is momentarily nonplussed by this, but surprisingly, the two of them actually communicate and quickly clear up the confusion. Shocking! Isabella is fairly sure she can handle the goofy Mustafà, and she's right! They make a plan and do a plan and then escape. Oh, and of course Mustafà loves his wife again, because otherwise it would be a bummer.

This is actually the earliest Rossini opera I've seen yet by some years--written when he was twenty-one!--but in spite of that, yup, I got what I came for. The music is fun, the story is fun...it's fun. Though I do have to say...well, I wouldn't call this a criticism of Rossini per se, but I find that his pure comedies tend to be maybe a little bit too lightweight. You need some substance with your laffs, you know? In this one, the first act is a little bit goofy, but the second is extremely goofy. Shall I explain? So the plan that Isabella and Lindoro cook up is that they're going to tell him how he can become a "Pappataci," which is a special club for men who are never angry at women. You have to pledge to always have a totally chill life with lots of eating and drinking and sleeping. So he goes through this ceremony and is eating and while he's distracted the Italians escape, and when he realizes it he just decides, oh, what the hell, whatever. Silly! VERY SILLY!

Still fun, of course. There's a Met on Demand production available, but it starts a fifty-two-year-old Marilyn Horne (the role is actually for a contralto, but always played by a mezzo as far as I can see), and LOOK, we've been through this. So I watched this Livermore Valley production, and I thought it was pretty great, actually. Bojan Knezevic is hilariously gormless as Mustafà, but I was REALLY impressed with Kristen Choi in the title role--she has a really noticeably warm, resonant voice. I want to see a lot more of her. And a lot more Rossini, of course.